One Step
by black4minister
Summary: One step and he wouldn't be a Captain anymore; it wouldn't be his ship, his crew, his anything. He'd just be Cadet Kirk again. It was a big step, but what he doesn't realise is that they will always be his crew... Enterprise family fluff!


**A/N: Well, I recently saw the 2009 Star Trek movie for the first time and have completely fallen in love with it. This is the first story I am posting for the fandom, but I'm sure it will be followed by many more to come!**

**This is just a little piece I wrote because I spend a lot of time wondering what happened once they all got back to Earth, and I was just thinking that for Jim leaving the ship meant leaving everything he had achieved in that short time and going back to the life he had before, and that would be hard I'd imagine.**

**Disclaimer: Very much not mine, even though I wish it was so :-)**

Jim stopped just to one side of the shuttle door. This had been the last shuttle off the Enterprise to Earth. He had wanted to be the last one off, last to abandon ship. He had taken this shuttle, with McCoy, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, Scotty and Spock, who had all also stayed to see off the rest of the crew. He had let them all get up and disembark first, and now there was just him, standing by the door.

"Jim? What's wrong? You forgotten how to take a step?" McCoy's head popped back into the shuttle, staring at him questioningly.

He forced himself to smile, to pretend everything was okay, as usual, "It's a big step though Bones." He elaborated as his friend came fully into the shuttle again, and stood beside him, "When I take that one last step to outside I stop being Captain James T. Kirk of the Enterprise. I go back to being Cadet Kirk, who's on academic suspension and will have hell to pay for the rules he's broken. I'll leave you out of it though, Bones, don't worry. I'll tell them I snuck on myself." McCoy looked like he was going to speak but Jim didn't stop, "That one step and she's not mine any more, Bones. She's not my ship, and they're not my crew. It's silly, it was only a few hours, but it felt _right_, Bones, it felt so right. But that one step is going to take it all away from me." He wanted to keep her, wanted it more then he had ever wanted anything before. He felt McCoy's hand on his shoulder, giving a brief squeeze, and looked up to see that his friend was smiling at him. He raised an eyebrow.

McCoy just smiled a little wider, "Not Captain any more, huh? Not your crew? You might want to take that step Jim, you never know what's waiting for you." He then turned and headed back out onto the steps, beckoning Jim to follow.

Jim didn't know what the doctor was talking about, but followed him out anyway, only to be stopped in his tracks. McCoy stood beside him on the steps, grinning, as the crew of the Enterprise all turned to them. Those who were injured or urgently needed somewhere else were not present of course, but there was still a two hundred strong crowd of Starfleet uniforms facing Jim. The hanger was fairly bursting at the seems, but the crew had still managed to line up smartly, snapping to attention with military precision. While Jim was still trying to comprehend what was going on in front of him, every crew member raised their right hand in a perfect salute, as someone called "Captain on deck!"

McCoy's hand squeezed his shoulder again as the Doctor lent forward to speak softly, "I don't know if you'll ever get back on the Enterprise Jim, but make no mistake – here's your crew, and you're their Captain." With one more squeeze McCoy stood back a little, straightening into his own smart salute.

If Jim had been a more sentimental man he might have felt tears pricking at his eyes. As he was not, however, he did what seemed right to him. He pulled his shoulders back, raising his own right hand in a salute to the men and women who had made him a Captain, even if it was only for a few hours. These men and women had saved Earth, had trusted him when they had no reason to. They _were_ his crew. He let his arm snap back to his side, a grin that he couldn't stop even if he'd wanted to spreading across his face. As he dropped his salute so did the lines in front of him, but they stayed in formation, still at attention. Jim's grin, if possible, widened, "Crew dismissed!" The crowd broke, some cheering went on, some people made straight for the exits, excited to see friends or family. Jim stood on the steps of the shuttle, McCoy still beside him.

"Ready to go Jim?" McCoy spoke.

Jim let his grin fade into a happy little smile, "Yeah, Bones, yeah I think I am." And he took another step.

**A/N: So what did you think? It's my first time writing these characters so do tell me how I did!**


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